Depths of the Heart
by Heart-of-Illusion
Summary: Angel sets out to redeem the heart of the one she loves the most from the darkness. Will Angel's tactics prevail or will Terra be lost to the darkness forever?
1. Prologue

**_Prologue_**

Once again I find myself lying beneath the stars trying to forget about _him_. I quickly ran my fingers through my light brown hair trying to push _him _out of my thoughts. My gaze then landed upon three stars that shined brighter than all the other stars. Tears spilled from my violet eyes and streamed down my cheeks. Those three stars represented everything I loved and so quickly lost. Memories of the past replayed in my head.

It happened ten years ago during a time of peace among the worlds. I was still training to become a Keyblade Master along with my comrades. No one anticipated the events to come that would tear the worlds apart.

~Ten Years Ago~

_After another brutal training, I wiped the sweat from my brow. Heavy footsteps echoed throughout the room as my opponent made his way over to me. His sapphire eyes instantly connected with mine sending goose bumps throughout my body. I quickly adverted my attention to the bottle of water in my hand. Before opening the bottle, a hand was placed on my shoulder. This small contact sent shivers up my spine. My eyes shifted to the man I was madly in love with._

"_You did great today, Angel." he said while giving me one of his intoxicating smiles._

"_Thanks, Terra, but you by far surpass me." I replied with a shaky voice. I quickly took a sip of water before he responded._

_His smile faded as he replied, "Angel, everyone trains at their own level and I'll be here for you every step of the way."_

"_Terra…," I breathed, unable to muster the right words. Before regaining my senses, his fingers interlaced with mine. A blush immediately came to my face._

"_I need to tell you something," he said while gently caressing my hands, "but not here. Meet me on the summit at midnight."_

_I slowly nodded my head while thoughts filled my mind. This must be a dream, could he really have the same feelings for me as I do for him? Terra's voice broke me from my thoughts._

"_I'll see you tonight then." he whispered in my ear before planting a kiss on my cheek. As he walked out of the room, I couldn't help but scream with joy._

_Late that night, I lie awake replaying the events in my mind. My mind went back to the kiss Terra gave me. Sure it was just on the cheek, but it still made me dizzy thinking about it._

_My thoughts were interrupted by my blue haired best friend sitting beside me, "It sounds like he's going to confess his _love _for you, Ang." she said with a smirk._

_I blushed furiously before lightly smacking the back of her head. "Oh stop it Aqua," I said flustered, "you don't know that!"_

_She let out a giggle before asking, "By the way, when do you have to meet him?"_

"_Midnight," I replied while glancing at the clock, "Twelve-fifteen! I have to go now!" I jumped up and ran out my door, almost running into a familiar blonde headed boy._

"_Sorry Ven," I apologized, "I didn't see you there."_

_He gave me a goofy smile before saying, "It's okay, Angel, but what's the hurry?"_

_I sighed exasperated with the delay and hurriedly said, "I'll tell you later because I'm already late!"_

_I quickly took off at a sprint down several hallways and came to a stop at the top of a stairway. After resting for a brief moment, I continued my way down the stairs proceeding through a large set of doors leading outside. The cool air rushed around me as I continued across the courtyard and up the mountain path. My heartbeat pounded in my ears from the running and the anxiety of what awaited me on the summit. Finally reaching my destination, I spotted the tall and muscular man standing near the edge._

_Terra seemed to be deep in thought as I approached him. Hearing my footsteps, he turned around to face me with that wonderful smile of his. I returned the gesture the best I could without literally bursting with joy._

"_I almost thought you weren't going to come," he said walking past me and laying down in the grass. "Come lie down next to me," he replied._

_My face turned a shade of crimson as I slowly made my way over to him and lied down. He instantly wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to his body. Instantly I melted as I buried my face into his muscular chest._

"_Of course I would come, Terra." I respond breaking the silence. For the first time, I noticed three stars that glistened brighter than all the others. They reflected the hope in my heart that Terra would return my feelings._

_He lightly squeezed my arm before saying, "I'm glad you did come because there's something I need to tell you."_

"_You can tell me anything, Terra." I breathed._

_He took a deep breath before continuing, "Angel, since the first day I met you I've fallen deeply and madly in love with you. Please tell me you feel the same."_

_Every inch of my body tingled with excitement and my heart swelled with joy. My mind then went blank and my mouth went dry. Quickly I regained my senses and shifted my body so our eyes met. His eyes sparkled from the reflection of the night sky._

"_I do and you have no idea how happy I am." I said as tears streamed down my face._

_His hands immediately reached up to wipe away the tears and cup my face in his hands. Slowly our faces grew closer until his lips connected with mine in a passionate kiss. At first it was soft and tender then rough and longing as the passion increased. We finally pulled apart taking laborious breaths._

"_I'm glad you did come, Angel." he said between breaths._

_I buried my face in his neck before saying, "So am I, Terra."_

_His arms wrapped around me as he kissed the top of my head. We laid there all night gazing up at the stars. When morning came, I wondered what wonderful things the future held for Terra and I. My future had always included becoming a Keyblade Master, but all I could think of now was being with Terra forever._

_Little did I know our lives would change forever. A few months later, during our Mark of Mastery exam, our worlds were torn apart by a darkness that no one expected. Terra fell into a dark void that even I couldn't save him from, but I never stopped trying. We finally came face to face with a fight for our lives, with the fate of the other worlds in our hands._

That was the last time I saw my comrades…the last time I saw Terra. Even to this day I love and dearly miss him, but deep inside my heart I feel he's out there somewhere waiting for me to rescue him. With that last thought, I stood up with a renewed hope and determination like no other. Wherever you are Terra, I'm going to save you.


	2. A Meeting With Destiny

**Warning: **This story will have a lot of **spoilers** if you haven't played any of the Kingdom Hearts games!

**_A Meeting With Destiny_**

One month into my journey, I found myself in a world that appeared to have no daytime. A world known as Traverse Town. I made my way down another street along a waterway that reflected the sparkling night sky. As I turned down an alley, I heard faint noises from behind me. Just as I made my way out of the alley, three shadows popped up from the ground blocking my path. These creatures were completely black with gleaming yellow eyes.

"They must be the Heartless that have been spreading darkness throughout the worlds." I thought aloud.

This was my first encounter with them so I was unsure of what to expect. All three of them sank back into the ground and rushed toward me. Before I could summon my Keyblade, a boy with spiky brown hair wearing a red jacket, jumped in front of me, facing the enemy.

"Don't worry ma'am I'm here to help, just stay back!" he instructed in a serious tone.

I was about to object when a Keyblade appeared in his hands. Maybe it was best to stay back and observe him. My eyes followed his every move as he took out the Heartless one by one. After finishing the last one, he turned around and walked over to me.

"Ma'am are you okay?" he asked concerned.

"Oh, I'm fine, thank you," I replied politely, "that was very brave of you."

His blue eyes reflected a light from within the depths of his heart, as he gave me a goofy grin. He immediately reminded me of Ven and how he always smiled the same way. I had to clear my head before the tears started to come. While I studied his features, a sense of familiarity washed over me.

He then outstretched his hand and introduced himself, "My name is Sora, I'm glad you're not hurt."

His name then fit in the missing puzzle piece to my memory. The memory of when we first met came back to me. It was like a meeting of destiny.

~Flashback~

_The sun shined down on me while the ocean breeze blew through my hair. My current journey had taken me to a small island on a world known as Destiny Islands. These beautiful islands were scattered with tall palm trees that grew star shaped fruit on them, the very same fruit that Aqua had told me about just days before. If you share the fruit with someone, your destinies would become intertwined._

_If only Terra had been here so we could share one together, but he was taking a different path than me. My thoughts were interrupted by the laughter of children from below the bridge I sat on. Two children, appearing to be around the age of five, ran beneath the bridge. One child had silver hair and a calming presence, the other child was a very energetic brunette._

"_Hurry up or you're going to lose!" the silver haired boy called back to his friend behind him._

_The young brunette stopped to take a rest and yelled, "Go on, I'll catch up later!"_

_The silver haired boy obliged and continued to run along the beach line. Something about the brown headed boy told me to go over to him. I jumped down from the bridge, catching the boys attention. He stared at me curiously as I walked over to him. He reminded me so much of Ven._

"_Do you mind telling me your name?" I asked him with a sweet smile._

"_It's Sora!" he responded with a goofy grin._

_I let out a soft chuckle before asking, "So Sora, was that your friend you were racing earlier?"_

"_He's my best friend, his name is Riku!" he exclaimed with enthusiasm._

"_So then, if Riku gets lost or wonders down a dark path, you make sure to stay with him and keep him safe." I told him as he sat there taking in every word. I gave him a heart felt smile while I thought of Terra and his conflict with the darkness._

_Sora gave me an excited nod before I continued, "It's your job Sora and I'm counting on you to do it."_

_He gave me the biggest smile and said, "You can count on me!"_

_A light from within him shined brighter than ever. I then knew that he might be special enough to wield the Keyblade one day. I could only hope that Riku and Sora's friendship would last through whatever the future might bring._

_Riku then called out teasingly, "Come on Sora, you're never going to beat me just sitting there!"_

_After saying goodbye, Sora quickly rushed off to catch up with his friend. They reminded me so much of Terra, Aqua, Ven, and I. We always playfully competed with each other, but in the end we always worked as a team. Sora and Riku undoubtedly would have there ups and downs, but I knew their friendship would last._

My mind found its way back to reality, but I still pondered on what became of their friendship. I could only hope the Keyblade hadn't torn them apart. The only way to find out was to ask Sora.

My hand embraced his in a friendly handshake as I introduced myself, "I'm Angel, it's nice to meet you Sora." I doubted he would remember me from so long ago. I continued to say, "You did rather well fighting those Heartless, but you still need some work."

His face turned red as he said, "Thanks-wait, what do you mean by that?"

I stifled a laugh and summoned my Keyblade. His expression of complete surprise made me burst into a fit of laughter which he soon joined in. After composing ourselves, he gave me a questioning look.

He seemed to ponder awhile before asking, "So you have a Keyblade too? Maybe you can-"

But his words were cut short by two worried voices and the sound of hurried footsteps. I turned around to see a dog walking upright with an oversized shield. Beside the dog was an angry looking duck carrying a wand. They both stopped in front of us as the duck tapped his foot impatiently.

Sora nonchalantly said, "Hey guys, this is Angel. Angel this is Goofy and Donald."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both." I greeted.

Their features softened as they both greeted me. Donald then turned to Sora and started to scold him. Sora rubbed the back of his head sheepishly mumbling an apology, and asked Donald something that I wasn't expecting.

"Hey Donald, do you think Angel could join us?" he asked with an innocent look that no one could refuse.

Donald angrily responded, "What do you think you're doing asking a defenseless girl to join us!"

"Wait a minute," I interjected, "I am not defenseless!"

Donald and Goofy stared in amazement as my Keyblade appeared in my hand. Sora just smiled at me before Goofy said, "I didn't know anyone besides the King and Sora had a Keyblade."

So they knew the King, maybe they would be some help after all. If the King trusted them then so could I. It felt as if I was getting closer to finding Terra already. Perhaps it was destiny that lead me to meet Sora again.


	3. An Unbreakable Connection

_**Chapter 2: An Unbreakable Connection**_

The barren streets of Traverse Town were now littered with Heartless that popped up when aware of our presence. We made our way through the district as Donald told me about their plan to seal the keyholes and find the king, who had recently disappeared. So far, they had no luck finding the king, but had successfully sealed three keyholes. After hearing about all that they were doing, I decided it might benefit all of us if I agreed to join them.

As we entered through a set of doors, I made my announcement. "Okay guys!" I said, getting there attention, "I'll come with you."

Everyone turned around to face me after hearing my decision. Sora and Goofy were beyond thrilled, but Donald just simply nodded. At that moment, two Heartless appeared behind them. But, before I could warn them, the Heartless were struck down. A boy with silver hair stood where the Heartless once were.

"There you are." he said with relief, "What's going on?"

With wide eyes, Sora whirled around to face him and yelled, "Riku!"

Sora then proceeded to pull at the corners of Riku's mouth. I let out a small giggle at his childish actions. I was relieved to see that they were still such good friends after all this time.

"Hey, hey, cut it out." Riku said as he swatted Sora's hands away.

"I'm not dreaming this time, right?" Sora asked hopefully.

"I hope not. Took forever to find you." Riku said with a laughed.

Confused by their conversation I asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Remembering we were still there, Sora introduced us, "Oh yeah, Riku, this is Angel, Donald, and Goofy."

Riku only gave us a blank stare while Sora explained what happened to his home and friends. My heart ached for him as he told me everything. I knew all too well what it was like to lose everything and I admired him for being so strong through it all. Riku and Sora then continued to talk as I clutched a purple star shaped charm in my hand. I would never forget the day I received this precious gift or what it represented.

~Flashback~

_Terra and I strolled up the mountain path, hand in hand. We often did this in our spare time, which wasn't much because of our approaching exams, and it was clear that Terra was stressed over it. I glanced up at Terra and gave him an alluring smile. He then leaned down to plant a soft kiss on my lips which I returned. Even though he did this many times, it still made me weak in the knees. A smile lingered on my lips until we made it to the summit._

_Upon reaching the summit, I spotted our dear friends, Aqua and Ven. They were sitting down looking up at the stars. We made our way over to join them._

"_Hey, Aqua. Y'ever wonder what stars are? Where light comes from?" Ven asked thoughtfully._

_Aqua replied, "Hmm…Well, they say-"_

"_That every star up there is another world." Terra finished, making our presence known._

"_Terra. Angel." Aqua said surprised._

_I greeted them both with a smile before saying, "It's hard to believe there's so many worlds out there besides our own."_

"_The light is their hearts, and it's shining down on us like a million lanterns." Terra continued._

_Ven looked at Terra perplexed and asked, "What? I don't get it."_

"_In other words, they're just like you, Ven." Terra explained._

"_What does that mean?" Ven asked persistently, still not understanding._

_As the two young men continued to bicker, I walked over to Aqua and sat down beside her. We both watched in amusement at the two while we laughed at them._

_Noticing our laughter, Terra asked, "Hey, what are you two laughing at?"_

_Stifling my laughter, I answered, "We can't help it."_

"_You two would make the weirdest brothers," Aqua said giving them both a smile._

_Terra and Ven then joined in on our laughter. When we calmed down, Terra sat down beside me and wrapped his arm around me. Ven followed suit and took a seat beside Aqua. We gazed up at the stars until Aqua suddenly jumped up as if remembering something important._

"_Oh yeah. Terra, Ang, we have our Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow." she said before pulling out four key chains with star shaped charms attached to them. "I made us good luck charms, they're Wayfinders."_

_Terra, Ven, and I stood up to get a better look. Aqua then handed me a purple one before tossing an orange one to Terra, and a green one to Ven. She kept the blue one for her own._

"_I get one too." Ven said astonished._

"_Of course. One for each of us." Aqua responded. "Somewhere out there, there's a tree with star shaped fruit and the fruit represents an unbreakable connection. So as long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing can ever drive you apart." _

_My hands traced over the intricately crafted charm as I admired its every detail. "It's beautiful, Aqua." I commented, "You made them yourself?"_

_She nodded sheepishly before saying, "Technically, I think you're supposed to make them with seashells, but I did the best with what I had."_

"_Oy, sometimes you two are such girls." Terra teased._

"_Hey, what do you mean "sometimes"?" Aqua demanded while I gave him a playful glare. _

"_I just…what I meant was…" Terra stammered and laughed nervously._

"_So this isn't a real good luck charm?" Ven interrupted as he looked down solemnly at his Wayfinder._

_Forgetting our squabble with Terra, Aqua replied, "Well that's yet to be seen. But I did work a little magic on it."_

"_Really? What?" Ven desperately asked, with hope shining in his eyes._

_Aqua raised her blue Wayfinder to the sky examining it and said, "An unbreakable connection."_

_Even without the charms, I truly believed we had an unbreakable connection, through our hearts. That was the real magic, and our Wayfinders were great representations of that. I looked at my friends…no, my family, this was all I could ever want and so much more._

"_We're heading back, are you coming?" Terra asked while holding his hand out to me._

_I gladly took his hand, interlacing our fingers, and nodded. I leaned my head against his shoulder as we walked back down the mountain path. That was the last night we ever spent beneath the same stars, and I would never forget it._

I gripped my Wayfinder harder as that bittersweet memory caused a single tear to fall. Quickly, I pinched the bridge of my nose in attempt to stop the remaining tears from falling. Luckily, Sora's voice distracted me from my oncoming emotional breakdown.

"Huh?" Sora questioned glancing down at his empty hands, "Hey, give it back."

Sora ran after Riku in hopes of retrieving his Keyblade that Riku was holding. At that moment, I could sense a small hint of darkness in Riku's heart as he examined Sora's Keyblade. Riku then swiftly dodges Sora, who ends up falling face first into the ground. I immediately rushed to his aid and helped him up.

"Are you okay, Sora?" I worriedly asked him.

"Yep!" he answered cheerfully and returned his attention to his childhood friend.

"Catch!" Riku warned Sora as he tossed the Keyblade back to its owner.

Sora barely caught his Keyblade and hopefully asked, "Okay, so you're coming with us, right? We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it!"

"No, he can't come!" a suddenly furious Donald interjected.

The two continued to bicker until Goofy interrupted, "He's gone."

"Riku?" Sora asked while frantically looking around, then turned to Donald, "Nice going."

I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, Sora, we'll find him."

"Oh well, at least he's okay. And who knows? Maybe we'll run into Kairi soon, too." he said, instantly cheering up.

"That's the spirit, hayuck." Goofy encouraged.

"And we'll be here to help you." I added with a wink, "Right, Donald?"

Donald just crossed his arms and grumbled, "Yeah, yeah."

Sora, Goofy, and I laughed at Donald which only made him more upset, in return we laughed harder. I could instantly feel a connection forming between us, an unbreakable one. There was no way I could let Sora lose everything like I had, and I was going to do everything in my power to help him.


	4. The Darkness Within

_**Chapter 3: The Darkness Within**_

Soon after Riku's disappearance, we departed from Traverse Town. The next world we encountered took us back in time to the Greek era. I instantly recognized this world as the Olympus Coliseum. The two golden statues that were placed on either side of the entrance, stood as firm now as they had on my first visit. We proceeded through the entrance into a small entrance hall. I spotted a very short and familiar satyr hanging a poster on the wall.

Sora approached him and said, "Umm…"

"Good timing. Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me. I gotta spruce this place up for the games." the goat man interrupted.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy simply did as he asked after exchanging confused glances. I merely shook my head in annoyance at their ignorance as they struggled to move the heavy pedestal. They finally gave up after several attempts and collapsed, gasping for air.

"You didn't actually think they could move that, did you, Phil?" I asked the goat man.

"What?" Phil asked, turning around to face us, "Angel! It's been a while, sweet-"

"Don't _even_ go there!" I warned him.

Phil complied with a nervous smile and then took notice of Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "What're you doing here? This here's the world-famous Coliseum for heroes only! And I got my hands full preparing for the games. So run along, pip-squeeks."

"Come on, Phil. Give them a chance." I pleaded.

Phil shook his head and replied, "Look, it's like this. Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum."

"You got heroes standing right in front of you." Donald boasted.

"Yep. Angel and Sora are real heroes chosen by the Keyblade." Goofy added.

"And we're heroes, too." Donald said, referring to Goofy and himself.

"Hero? That runt?" Phil mocked before laughing.

Annoyed by Phil's behavior, I demanded, "That's enough, Phil. You'd be surprised at what he can do."

"Hey if you can't even move this," Phil said as he tried to move the pedestal with all his strength, "you can't call yourself…a hero!"

Goofy and I chuckled at Phil as he collapsed from the strain. Phil quickly straightened up and admitted, "Okay, so it takes more than brawn."

"So, you'll give them a chance?" I asked sweetly.

"Yeah, yeah, let's see what you can do, kid." Phil said.

Phil then walked past us and out onto the training field. He began by teaching Sora, Donald, and Goofy the rules. After going over the rules, Phil put them through a series of tests. The trio performed remarkably and passed the training round with no problem. But, Phil would be the true judge of that.

"You know, you ain't bad, kid." Phil said approvingly.

Sora laughed and boasted, "Looks like I'm headed for the games."

"Afraid not." Phil sternly said.

"Why not?" Sora whined.

Phil held up two fingers and said, "Two words: You guys ain't heroes."

Sora stomped his foot and exclaimed, "Come on!"

"It's okay, Sora," I said while laying a comforting hand on his shoulder, "you just need a little more training. We'll come back later."

Phil nodded in agreement and said, "Angel's right, kid. You're lucky to have a true hero like her as a friend."

Sora spun around to face me with a sparkle in his eyes. "You're a hero? Why didn't you tell us before now, Angel?" he asked with admiration ringing in his voice.

"It doesn't matter. We should get going." I responded.

Sora opened his mouth to object, but I hurriedly shooed him out the door before he could say anything. Donald and Goofy followed after him while I remained in the entrance hall. Phil gave me a questioning glance, but knew better than to ask anything. I may have proven myself worthy as a hero to Phil and my master, but I didn't feel worthy. Especially on _that_ day.

~Flashback~

_My pulse was racing due to my nerves being on edge from the anxiety settled in the pit of my stomach. Even Aqua and Terra's words of encouragement didn't help, but for their sake I pretended they did. The only thing that could help was to get this over with and know the results. The countless years of training we went through would be put to the test today. Today was our Mark of Mastery exams._

_Terra, Aqua, and I walked into a large room and took our respected positions before our master, Eraqus. Behind him were three throne chairs, one was occupied by an old man. He had piercing golden eyes, a silver goatee and abnormally tan skin. A dark aura seemed to surround him as if warning me not to trust him. I then spotted Ven watching us from nearby which eased my nerves a bit._

_Master Eraqus then began the introduction, "Today you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery. Three of the Keyblade's chosen stand here as candidates but this is neither a competition nor a battle for supremacy; not a test of wills but a test of heart. All of you may prevail or none. But I am sure our guest, Master Xehanort, did not travel all this way to see our youngest prospects in years fall short of the Mark."_

_The old man in the chair nodded at Master Eraqus as he mentioned his name. As Master Xehanort looked us over, a horrible feeling rose from the pit of my stomach, and it wasn't from nerves this time. I swiftly glanced over to Terra and Aqua but both seemed undisturbed by his menacing presence. I decided to shake off this feeling and returned my attention to our master. If only I had taken that feeling seriously._

"_I trust you are ready." Master Eraqus said. After we responded with a yes, he continued, "Then let the examination begin." He then raised his Keyblade to summon orbs of light. Suddenly, a darkness engulfed the orbs sending them into a frenzy. Terra, Aqua, and I quickly attacked the orbs, but one slipped passed us and headed straight for Ven._

"_Ven!" we cried out in unison, but Ven easily destroyed the orb._

"_Don't worry about me. You three focus on the exam!" Ven reassured._

"_But Ven, you're in danger here! Go wait in your room." Aqua chastised. _

_Ven shook his head and exclaimed, "No way! I've been looking forward to this, seeing you three become Masters. I'm not gonna miss it now!" _

"_He can take care of himself. He's been out there training just as hard as us." Terra reassured Aqua._

"_Have some faith in him, Aqua." I teased her, trying to lighten the mood._

"_Yeah!" Ven yelled excitedly._

_Aqua finally gave in and advised, "Stay sharp, Ven!"_

_Destroying the orbs was no easy task. I swung my Keyblade at one as it sped toward me, but it avoided my attack at the last second and appeared behind me. Before I could even turn around, it slammed into my back and sent me flying into the nearby wall. Despite the pain, I quickly stood up and attacked the orb before it could hit me again. Terra immediately appeared by my side to make sure I was okay. I gave him a reassuring smile as we finished off the last orb. We took our previous positions before Master Eraqus while Ven took his on the sideline._

"_That was unexpected but one must keep a still heart even in the most trying of circumstances. It was an excellent test, one I chose to let unfold. Which brings us to your next trial. Now the three of you will face each other in combat." Master Eraqus announced._

_We walked out into the middle of the room and waited for our master's signal to begin combat. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm my nerves. When I opened my eyes, they locked with Terra's eyes which instantly calmed me. He gave me an encouraging smile before Master Eraqus' voice echoed throughout the room._

"_Remember, there are no winners only truths, for when equal powers clash, their nature is revealed. Begin!" Master Eraqus exclaimed._

_The three of us immediately summoned our Keyblades and began battle. Aqua's agility proved worthy as she dodged every hit with grace. Terra's hard hitting attacks were something you definitely wanted to avoid. Thankfully, I had trained myself in both speed and strength to match theirs. But my body still ached from my mishap in our previous trial and I dropped to my knees in agony. Terra worriedly glanced in my direction. Aqua took this opportunity to attack him but barely missed when he dodged at the last second. I jumped back into battle after the pain subsided and ran toward Terra and Aqua when I spotted the most horrifying thing ever. Darkness surrounded Terra's hand. He quickly shook it off before blocking Aqua's oncoming attack. We continued to fight in combat until Master Eraqus signaled the end of this trial._

_As we stood before our master waiting for the results, I noticed Master Xehanort smirking at Terra with a thoughtful look. Before I could dwell on the matter further, Master Eraqus spoke before us._

"_We have deliberated and reached a decision. Terra, Aqua, Angel, you performed commendably." Master Eraqus commented, " However, only Aqua and Angel have shown the Mark of Mastery."_

_My heart leapt out of my chest in triumph, but quickly sank into the pit of my stomach as I realized something. Terra didn't pass. I quickly regained my composure before my mouth could act on its own and disagree with his decision._

"_Terra, you failed to keep the darkness within you sufficiently in check. But there is always next time. That is all." Master Eraqus informed before turning his attention to Aqua and I, "Aqua and Angel, as our newest Keyblade Masters, you are entitled to certain knowledge. Please wait here for further instruction."_

_Master Eraqus and Master Xehanort then exited the room separately. Terra stood there in disbelief as Aqua and I tried to comfort him. Ven scurried over to us and tried to cheer him up as well. But it seemed our attempts were in vain._

"_The darkness…Where did it come from?" Terra thought aloud. I lightly touch his hand but he pulled away and said, "Sorry but I need some time alone."_

_He then walked away from us and headed outside. I watched his retreating figure until he was out of sight and silently wished there was something I could do to cheer him up. Ignoring Aqua's calls for me to stay like our master instructed, I followed Terra outside. I opened the double doors and stepped out into the warm sunlight. Terra sat at the bottom of the stairs that led to the entrance I had just exited from. He must have been deep in thought because even as I walked down the steps he didn't stir. It wasn't until I sat down beside him that he was aware of my presence._

"_There's darkness within me." he said, barely audible._

_I could see he was ashamed at that fact so I laid my hand on top of his and said, "It doesn't matter. You're still the same Terra that I love dearly."_

"_Angel…Thank you." he whispered as he leaned his forehead against me._

_His hot breath tingled against my skin every time he exhaled. It sent a burning desire throughout my body making me long for his touch. His lips captured mine in a hungry kiss. My hands tangled in his hair while his arms wrapped around my waist pulling me closer to him, deepening the kiss. Our moment was cut short by the slam of a door causing us to part immediately. After composing ourselves, we turned around to see who had come out. It was none other than Master Xehanort standing at the top of the stairs, and the same sinking feeling returned._

"_Master Xehanort…" Terra said respectfully while bowing to him. For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to do the same._

"_I believe you have an important meeting to attend." Master Xehanort told me in passing, keeping his full attention on Terra._

_I slowly nodded my head and gave Terra a worried glance before proceeding up the stairs. As I passed Master Xehanort, an overwhelming darkness emanated from him. My hand lingered on the doorknob for a second before I continued to twist it and opened the door to enter. The scene before me drew to a close as the door did. Something told me to go back to Terra but instead I continued forward to my first meeting as a Keyblade Master. It seemed so meaningless compared to what I was leaving behind that closed door._

That was the very reason I hated to be called a hero. A hero wouldn't walk away from someone they loved and leave them with a man that resided in darkness. The guilt stayed with me even to this day. But now wasn't the time to contemplate on such things when there were more important things at hand. Just then Sora came bursting through the door with a slip of paper in his hand which he gave to Phil. Apparently, it was a pass to enter the games. I took a seat in the stadium and watched Sora work his way through the ranks with the help of Goofy and Donald. Their last round was with a mysterious blonde man who proved to be a formidable opponent. Strangely, he reminded me a lot of Terra. After a hard battle, my trio of friends finally took down the mysterious man. Before we could celebrate, a giant three headed dog came crashing into the Coliseum, knocking out the mysterious man.

"Herc!" Phil called out.

A familiar and more muscular red head came to the rescue by holding back the giant dog. "Phil, get them out of here!" Hercules ordered.

After we safely returned to the entrance hall, I felt that it wasn't right to leave Hercules to fend for himself. Sora, Donald, and Goofy agreed with me and persuaded Phil to let us go back. When we reentered the Coliseum, Hercules was still holding back the giant dog with one hand and holding the unconscious body of the mysterious man in the other.

"Kid, I got two words of advice for you: Attack!" Phil yelled out before retreating.

The giant dog fought as menacingly as it looked but we eventually defeated it together. Upon returning to the entrance hall, Phil decided Sora, Donald, and Goofy were worthy enough to be dubbed junior heroes.

"What do you mean by "junior heroes"?" Donald asked baffled.

"You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero." Phil retorted.

"So what does it take?" Goofy asked.

Hercules answered, "Well, that's just something you'll have to find out for yourselves. Just the way that I did."

"No problem. We'll start by proving ourselves in the games." Sora casually said.

"There ain't gonna be any games for a while. Gotta clean up the mess from the last battle first." Phil explained with an irritated sigh.

"You guys could use some more training anyways." I teased them.

"Hey!" Sora laughed, "Okay we'll be back."

We bid our goodbyes to Hercules and Phil then exited the entrance hall. When we stepped outside, I spotted the mysterious man sitting on the steps. For a moment, I saw Terra sitting there instead of the mysterious man.

"Sora, there's that man from earlier." I informed him, "He looks pretty upset."

"Yeah. His name is Cloud. Hades was using him and the darkness inside of him." Sora explained.

My breath caught in my throat. Just like Terra…

"Uh…You coming, Angel?" Goofy asked as he and the others approached Cloud. I nodded my head robotically and caught up to them.

"Hey, are you alright?" Sora asked Cloud worriedly.

"Yeah." Cloud answered in a monotone voice.

Sora accepted his response and asked, "So, why did you go along with him anyway?"

"I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help. I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired. I fell into darkness, and I couldn't find the light." Cloud replied.

Sora gave him a cheerful grin and said, "You'll find it. I'm searching too."

"For your light?" Cloud asked.

Sora nodded his head. Cloud stood up before saying, "Don't lose sight of it."

Cloud then walked away, but stopped when Sora asked, "How about a rematch sometime? Fair and square, no dark powers involved."

"I think I'll pass." Cloud replied with a dramatic flip of his hair. He then disappeared through the doors.

I turned to Sora and warned, "The darkness is a dangerous thing to meddle with. But as long as your friends are with you, it can't harm you."

Sora took in every word before we left the Olympus Coliseum. I couldn't help but think about how much Cloud was like Terra. Both had darkness within them and were used by someone. I'm so sorry I couldn't save you, Terra, but I promise that this time I will save you.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Merry Christmas!


	5. Love's Resistance

A/N: So sorry for the long wait ,but here's a super long chapter to make up for it.

_**Chapter 4: Love's Resistance**_

My head was pounding as I slowly opened my eyes and rapidly blinked my eyelids to clear my blurred vision. While my vision cleared, I gently sat up and looked around at my surroundings. Sora, Donald, and Goofy laid close by and were stirring slightly. As I stood up, I noticed a small light not too far away. The others were now on their feet as well, rubbing their heads and groaning in pain.

"Is everyone okay?" I worriedly asked them.

"Yeah, no thanks to him." Donald grumbled while pointing at Sora.

"Me?" Sora asked in irritation.

Before they could say anymore, I stepped between them. "Now isn't the time to be fighting." I advised and they reluctantly agreed, "We should follow that light over there and find out where we are."

Angel's right, hayuck." Goofy agreed.

We headed in the direction that the light was coming from. As we got closer, we discovered a lantern was the source of the light. It was coming from the remains of a boat that two people had made into their temporary home. There was an old man with gray hair and mustache, and beside him was a small boy…no, a puppet. The old man introduced himself as Geppetto and the puppet as his son, Pinocchio.

After introductions, I politely asked, "Can you tell us where we are?"

"Why, we're inside Monstro, the whale." Geppetto explained.

"We're inside a whale?" Donald squawked.

While we were distracted by Donald's outburst, a certain puppet boy slipped away. A few minutes had passed until Geppetto noticed his son's absence. When we couldn't find him anywhere nearby, Geppetto feared he went further inside Monstro. We agreed to look for Pinocchio and bring him back to Geppetto. After hours of searching through the maze inside of Monstro, we finally found Pinocchio.

"There he is, Sora." I pointed out as Pinocchio jumped in surprise.

"What are you doing?" Sora asked as he approached Pinocchio, "Come on, let's go back."

"You know, Geppetto's awfully worried about you." Goofy said.

"Pinocchio, stop fooling around!" Sora scolded him when he didn't come, "This is no time for games!"

Pinocchio cautiously crept toward us. We turned around to leave thinking that he was following us. Suddenly, I sensed an aura of darkness from behind me. I abruptly turned around to fight off any Heartless, but there was nothing behind me. While searching for the source of the darkness, I spotted Riku up on a higher level with Pinocchio by his side and detected the darkness coming from within Riku. He glared at me before turning his attention to Sora's retreating figure.

"But, Sora, I thought you liked games." Riku mocked, "Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?"

Completely oblivious to Riku's mocking tone, Sora asked in shock, "Riku, wh-what are you doing here?"

"Just playing with Pinocchio." Riku said coolly.

"You know what I mean!" Sora retorted before asking, "What about Kairi? Did you find her?"

"Maybe." Riku taunted, "Catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know."

"Riku! Please leave Pinocchio out of this!" I cried out to him.

But it was too late, Riku was out of sight and he had taken Pinocchio with him. We quickly took off after them, taking out any Heartless that stood in our way. There was no telling what Riku had planned for the puppet boy so we had to get there soon, but the Heartless were slowing us down. After delving deeper into Monstro, we entered a dead end room that was occupied by the escapees.

"There's no where else to go, Riku. Now, just hand over Pinocchio and we can all walk away unharmed." I proposed to Riku.

Riku backed away and set Pinocchio down before shaking his head. "I don't think so." he said in a stern tone.

"Riku!" Sora cried in disbelief, "What's the matter with you? Do you realize what you're doing?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora." Riku said coldly as hurt flashed in his eyes, "You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days. Do you even want to save Kairi?"

Sora dropped his head and mumbled, "I do."

Before Riku could respond, Pinocchio's scream caught our attention. He had been captured by a giant Heartless and its belly consisted of a cage that Pinocchio was in. He continued to cry out for help as the Heartless lunged at us.

"You up for this?" Riku asked as he came to stand by Sora.

"No problem." Sora replied smugly before summoning his Keyblade, "Let's do this!"

"That's the spirit!" I shouted, elated that they were working together.

Donald, Goofy, and I summoned our own weapons and attacked the Heartless. Because Pinocchio was inside the Heartless, we were careful with our attacks. It wasn't long before we had weakened the Heartless. But to our dismay, he spit Pinocchio out and into a hole in the floor. Riku was the first to follow and jumped into the hole after Pinocchio. We immediately followed after them and appeared in the room that we met Geppetto and Pinocchio.

"Pinocchio! Pinocchio!" Geppetto called out in distress.

Fear gripped at my heart as we ran to Geppetto's side as fast as we could. I didn't know what to expect until I followed his line of vision. A gasp escaped my lips when I saw Pinocchio's unconscious body hanging limply in Riku's arm. Riku stood on a high ledge looking down at us.

"Please give me back my son!" Geppetto pleaded with tears in his eyes.

"Sorry, old man," Riku scoffed, "I have some unfinished business with this puppet."

"He's no puppet! Pinocchio is my little boy!" Geppetto defended proudly as the tears fell freely from his eyes.

"He is unusual. Not many puppets have hearts. I'm not sure," Riku's whole demeanor changed before he continued, "but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs."

Sora's eyes widened in fear as he asked, "Wait a minute. Are you talking about Kairi?"

"What do you care about her?" Riku asked incredulously.

Before Riku could stalk off, I shouted at him, "Riku! I-we can help you with whatever trouble you're in."

He simply ignored my pleas and walked away with Pinocchio. I turned to Sora and saw his downcast expression which broke my heart. Donald and Goofy noticed as well, but thought it was best to leave him alone. As I laid my hand on his head and ruffled his hair, he looked at me with determination in his eyes.

"I have to find him before it's too late!" Sora burst out before running off to catch up with Riku.

Donald, Goofy and I took off after him before he could get too far ahead. As we chased after him, Sora's words kept repeating in my head. Those same words were spoken by a blonde boy who was worried about his friend succumbing to the darkness as well. My mind drifted back to that day and my surroundings changed. Soon I was running through the halls of a broken down castle.

_Flashback_

_Ven and I ran down the long hallway with three fairies following close behind us. Earlier they had informed us of their princess having her heart stolen by an evil sorceress, Maleficent. Ven insisted that we help them. I turned to him and scowled, remembering Master Eraqus' orders to bring Ven back home. But like Ven, I couldn't possibly refuse to aid someone in need of help. I returned my full attention to a doorway ahead that led to a dilapidated throne room. _

"_Someone has released Aurora's heart. Tell me, was it you two?" an eerie voice startled us._

"_Maleficent!" one of the fairies exclaimed and pointed to an evil looking woman that held a staff in one hand._

"_Only 'cause you stole it in the first place!" Ven countered before attacking her._

"_Wait!" I yelled at Ven, but Maleficent disappeared before he could strike her._

"_A Keyblade…" Maleficent mused, alerting us to her position that was before a throne._

"_You must be Ventus," Maleficent said before studying me, "and of course you have to be Angel."_

_Ven clenched his fist and asked, "How do you know about us?"_

"_And how do you know about the Keyblade?" I added._

"_My powers ensure I'd know of the key to bringing me hearts. Terra gave me a demonstration." Maleficent explained with a malicious grin._

_Ven's eyes lit up and he expectantly asked, "Terra? He was here?"_

_Something wasn't right so I pressed further, "What kind of demonstration?"_

"_Why, yes." Maleficent replied as her smirk broadened, "In fact, it was he who stole Princess Aurora's heart."_

_My blood started to boil and I went off, "How dare you!"_

"_That's a lie!" Ven yelled in defense of his friend._

_Maleficent laughed maniacally before unleashing an onslaught of spells at Ven and I. We quickly dodged every spell and waited for our chance to strike. After weakening her, the three fairies conjoined there powers to help us deliver the final blow. Maleficent staggered back and leered at us amusedly, as if the whole battle was a joke._

"_There's no way Terra would hurt somebody like that!" Ven exclaimed confidently and I nodded my head in agreement._

"_You don't believe me?" Maleficent asked in mock disbelief, "That's unfortunate, for he agreed so easily."_

_I couldn't stand her lies anymore. "That's enough! Stop trying to turn Terra into the bad guy! We know him better than that!" I cried out in rage then turned to Ven, "Right, Ven?"_

_But Ven remained silent as he hung his head low and began to doubt Terra._

"_Ven! Don't be fooled!" Aqua warned as she entered the room and came to stand by us, "Angel's right."_

_A smile spread across my face as Ven and I cheerfully exclaimed, "Aqua!"_

_Aqua gave a nod in return and assured Ven by saying, "Terra would never do that. You know that as well as Ang and I do."_

_Ven instantly perked up and ecstatically agreed, "Yeah!"_

_It made me happy to see Ven back to his old self and to see Aqua here. And it seemed to lift up my spirits and replenish me with a new strength. But, of course the wicked witch had to ruin our serene moment._

"_Ah…The truth can be most cruel, even amongst the closest of friends. After all, one never knows the secrets of another's heart." Maleficent paused for effect then turned to us with a sly grin, "I'm sure you'll agree, Ventus…Aqua…Angel."_

_The three of us gave her cold glares but decided to ignore her. We knew she was just rambling meaningless words._

_Aqua turned to Ven and said, "The Master sent me. Ven, let's go home."_

"_But, Terra…"Ven argued._

"_Terra's not ready to leave yet." Aqua tried to explain._

_Ven looked hesitant so I tried to persuade him, "Don't worry about Terra. He'll be just fine."_

"_Sorry, Aqua, Angel. But I can't go with you. It's just…" Ven struggled with his words before blurting out, "I have to find him before it's too late!"_

_He suddenly ran off causing us to call after him. We started to follow him but were brought to an abrupt halt by Maleficent's voice._

"_I see you, too, wield a Keyblade." Maleficent blatantly pointed out._

_Aqua gasped in shock and asked, "How do you know about the Keyblade?"_

"_I was wondering that myself." I mumbled under my breath._

"_A source of power…a key that opens the hearts of men, of entire worlds and allows one to obtain anything and everything. Such a power I find most fascinating." Maleficent ranted with a lust for power gleaming in her eyes._

"_So, Terra…he really…" Aqua said before drifting off, unable to finish her sentence._

_I stared at her in disbelief. Her distrust for Terra felt like a knife being stabbed right through my heart. She actually believed this witch that she had just met over her own friend she's known for years._

"_Aqua!" I managed to choke out, "Do you honestly believe her?"_

_Maleficent grinned triumphantly at the scene before her and said, "Of course he did. Now, my dear, would you like to assist me as well?"_

_Aqua immediately refused, "Never."_

"_I see, Xehanort was right. You are the most stubborn girl." Maleficent said dully and turned to me, "And your loyalty to Terra is undoubtedly hard to waver."_

"_That explains a lot." I mumbled and suddenly everything made sense._

_But still confused, Aqua bewilderedly asked, "Master Xehanort? How do you-?"_

"_It seems you need time to consider my offer. Fortunately, I have the perfect place." Maleficent interrupted._

_Maleficent raised her staff and a purple mist surrounded it. Immediately following, the floor below us crumbled away causing us to fall into a dungeon . After recovering from the fall, I scanned the room and noticed a young man chained to the wall. Aqua and I exchanged names with him and discovered the reason behind his imprisonment._

"_To prevent me from breaking her evil curse. I was to meet the most beautiful girl at a cottage in the glen, but now my true love lies in an eternal slumber," he took a deep breath before continuing, "and only I can break the spell."_

"_You must really love her." I said softly as I thought of Terra._

_The three fairies then appeared behind us and one of them asked, "Is what you said true?"_

"_Yes. Maleficent told me." he replied confidently._

"_Oh, Prince Phillip!" the fairy cried with relief and unlocked his chains with her magic._

"_Now, Phillip. The road to true love may be barred by many dangers which you alone will have to face." the fairy warned._

_Her words felt as if they were directed to me even though she was speaking to the prince. She was right. When it comes to love, there will be obstacles along the way. But with love's resistance, I know I can overcome this obstacle that I'm facing right now. We helped Prince Phillip fight his way back to the castle where Princess Aurora laid in a deep slumber. Before we could reach the entrance to her castle, everything instantly became covered with thorns and blocked our way inside. Maleficent appeared in front of us which explained the thorns._

"_Maleficent!" Aqua shouted, "What did Master Xehanort tell you?"_

"_Whatever it was, he was lying to you." I tried convincing her._

_Maleficent shook her head and reproved, "Such a pity that neither of you have Terra's gift for obedience. Nor can you see how easy it was for him."_

"_Terra would never do anything to help you!" Aqua refuted and the grip on my Keyblade tightened in anger._

_Maleficent laughed mockingly, "Quite the contrary. He fully embraced the darkness within himself."_

"_Stop lying!" Aqua cried with rage._

"_I've had enough of your lies!" I screamed and charged straight for Maleficent._

_I was suddenly thrown back by an invisible force as green flames engulfed Maleficent. When I got back on my feet, she had transformed into a dragon. Together we attacked her with all our strength, but Prince Phillip had to be the one to finish her off. As he stood before Maleficent blocking her swings, a magic surrounded his sword to help guide it. When the sword struck her heart, she transformed back into her human form. All of the thorns disappeared, allowing Prince Phillip entrance to the castle. He hurried off inside to awake his love while Aqua and I dealt with Maleficent._

"_It's the power of true love that defeated you." Aqua informed._

"_I will not be defeated by something as insignificant as love." Maleficent spat venomously._

"_On the contrary, love is the most powerful feeling and it fills you with overwhelming hope and faith." I corrected._

_Aqua gave me a smile and added, "You're too clouded by darkness to see that there's something greater. Try all you want, but you'll never defeat a heart filled with light."_

"_Perhaps, but remember one thing," Maleficent sneered, "as long as there is light, there will be darkness. And in time, many more will be drawn to it. Then they will all belong to me!"_

_With a maniacal laugh, she disappeared in an explosion of green smoke. Aqua and I exchanged worried glances but said nothing. Something told me that wasn't the last time I would see Maleficent. And a nagging voice kept telling me that she wasn't completely lying about Terra. I didn't want to lose faith in the love of my life so I chose to ignore the voice._

_Flashback ends_

Maybe if I had listened to that voice I could have saved Terra. And now I could see Riku slowly falling into darkness just like Terra. There's still time to save Riku but he's being extremely resistant which we'll make things much harder. My surroundings turned back to the inside of Monstro and we had tracked down Riku to the belly of Monstro. Pinocchio was perched up against the wall opposite of us.

"Hey, let Pinocchio go, Riku." Sora demanded.

"A puppet that's lost it's heart to the Heartless. Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi." Riku thought aloud before turning to face Sora, "How about it, Sora? Let's join forces to save her. We can do it, together."

Sora had a troubled expression on his face as he thought about Riku's offer. Then it was replaced with a confident look as he summoned his Keyblade and took a fighting stance. Donald, Goofy and I followed suit as Riku stared at Sora in astonishment.

"What? You'd rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?" Riku asked in disbelief.

"Heart or no heart, at least he has a conscience." Sora replied proudly.

Riku scoffed, "Conscience?"

Sora nodded and replied with a strong voice, "You might not hear it, but right now it's loud and clear. And it's telling me you're on the wrong side!"

"Then you leave me no choice." Riku said darkly and took out his own weapon.

In attempt to stop the two from fighting, I pleaded, "Riku, please don't do this. Just come with us and we can help Kairi the right way."

Suddenly, the giant Heartless from earlier dropped in and startled all of us. I noticed Riku disappearing into a portal behind the Heartless. But I didn't have time to go after him because of the Heartless that was trying to crush us right now. We swiftly dodged it's oncoming attack and countered. In no time, we had defeated the Heartless by using our gathered knowledge from our previous battle with it. But our victory was cut short when it exploded causing a chain reaction. The room began to shake so Donald and Goofy decided to get Pinocchio out of there before the room collapsed.

I noticed Sora looking around and yelling, "Riku, where are you?"

"Come on, Sora! We have to get out of here!" I shouted over the loud explosions.

Sora hesitated before following me out of the room but not before glancing back one last time. As the walls began to crumble, it reminded me of the hardships I've faced in my life. Even when my world came crashing down around me, love kept me strong and allowed me to resist the darkness that threatened to extinguish my light.


	6. Believing in Your Dreams

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait…again, but here's another long chapter for you. I hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day!

_**Chapter 5: Believing in Your Dreams**_

The sound of water beating against wood drowned my ears in a rhythmic beat. But, the room spun with every creak as the ship moved with the ocean waves. I gripped the sides of my head and tightly shut my eyes in a vain attempt to cease my dizziness. Suddenly, the door to the room flew open to reveal a couple of pirates as they tossed a young girl into the room. They quickly slammed the door before I could even stop them. I helped the girl get back on her feet. She had golden brown hair, blue eyes, and wore a light blue dress.

"Are you okay?" I asked as she brushed herself off.

"Oh, yes. Thank you." she politely replied with a radiant smile.

I returned the smile and introduced myself, "My name is Angel."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Angel. I'm Wendy." she said with a curtsy.

I giggled at her cuteness when the door opened yet again. The same pirates brought a red headed girl this time. But, something wasn't right. There was an emotionless entranced look in her eyes and she didn't even move an inch. I was too worried about the girl to try and escape this time. Wendy knelt by the girl and examined her before turning to me with a worried expression.

"Do you think she is alright?" Wendy asked concerned.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." I lied, but she seemed to believe me.

A ball of sparkling light shot into the room and stopped between us, floating in midair. The light dimmed so we could see a fairy. Not just any fairy, but Tinker Bell.

"Tinker Bell!" Wendy exclaimed with relief, "Peter must be nearby then."

"Tinker Bell and Peter Pan? That must mean we're in Neverland." I thought aloud.

"Yes and we're on Captain Hook's ship." Wendy explained while Tink bounced up and down in agreement.

"Captain Hook! Tinker Bell, can you go get Peter Pan and bring him to us?" I asked the glowing pixie.

Tinker Bell became engulfed in a golden light again and zoomed out of the room leaving a trail of pixie dust behind her. A few minutes later we heard voices from below us. Wendy and I rushed over to the grate in the floor that was right beside the entranced girl. We spotted the owners of the voices now and it was Peter Pan, Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"Peter? Peter Pan?" Wendy called out hopefully.

"Wendy?" Peter Pan exclaimed with joy.

"Sora, are you guys okay?" I asked anxiously.

"Angel, is that you?" Is anybody else up there with you?" Sora asked hopefully.

I glanced over to the zombie-like girl then back to Sora, "Yes, but she-"

"Kairi? Kairi!" Sora called out to his friend.

Amazingly, her hand moved slightly which made Sora grin from ear to ear. The door suddenly slammed open and revealed three pirates. Two of them grabbed Kairi and Wendy while the last one came at me. I was going to put up a fight, but the pirates holding Wendy and Kairi each held a knife to their necks. I begrudgingly agreed to come quietly.

"Wendy! Hey let's get up there!" I heard Peter shout before the pirates took us away.

They pulled us down a hallway and up some stairs that led to the deck of the ship. It was night time but the ship was brightly lit by lanterns. The pirate holding me came to a stop before the mast while Wendy and Kairi were taken through a door.

"Where are they taking them?" I demanded from the pirate as he pulled out a rope.

"It's not them you need to worry about, deary." he smirked showing his rotted teeth, some with gold caps.

I summoned my Keyblade and knocked out the pirate. Several Heartless surrounded me before I could go after Wendy and Kairi.

"Hold on, Angel. We're coming!" Sora yelled from across the deck with Donald, Goofy, and Peter Pan in tail.

"Don't worry about me. They took Wendy and Kairi through that door." I pointed out.

"But…" Sora began to argue until Goofy cut him off.

"We'll help her out, Sora." Goofy butted in while he and Donald took out a few Heartless.

"Come on, Sora. They'll be fine." Peter urged ad he flew passed us.

"Alright, but we'll be back soon." Sora gave in and followed Peter.

Donald, Goofy, I slashed away at the seemingly endless wave of Heartless. We finished off the last few when footsteps approached us from behind. I whirled around with my Keyblade ready and came face to face with Captain Hook and his right hand man, Smee.

"You again!" Hook bellowed with his hook pointed at my face.

"What does he mean by "again"?" Donald asked tapping his foot with arms crossed, but I was saved by Sora showing up at that moment.

Hook turned to Sora with a mischievous smile, "Quite a codfish, that Riku, running off with that girl without even saying goodbye."

"Run off where? Tell me, where did he go?" Sora demanded adamantly.

"To the ruins of Hollow Bastian, where Maleficent resides. But you won't be going there." Hook snidely replied as he pulled out a glass box containing Tinker Bell.

"Maleficent? Is she the one behind all this?" I cried as I remembered the hurt she caused me.

"I'll be the one asking the questions!" Hook yelled at me. He then added, "Unless you intend to leave your little pixie friend behind. Hand over the Keyblade and I'll spare your lives."

"Not happening." Sora stood his ground.

"Very well. The plank it is then." Hook growled as a faint ticking grew louder and louder.

Hook stiffened up and cried out about a crocodile taking his hand. He sprinted off into his quarters leaving Smee in charge. Smee used Tink as leverage to force Sora to walk the plank. I felt helpless as the crocodile awaited Sora's fall and Tink gazed at us pleadingly.

"Fly, Sora! Just believe and you can do it!" a familiar voice encouraged.

Sora closed his eyes and jumped off the plank. I gasped as Sora flew up into the night sky while Peter stole Tink back and set her free. A brilliant smile was plastered on Sora's face and amusement sparkled in his blue eyes as he flew. All because he simply believed and sometimes that's just enough.

Flashback

_A beautiful white castle glowed radiantly in the night. I admired its magnificence from afar in a small clearing. A movement from beside me broke my entranced gazing as I noticed some Unversed escaping. I quickly chased after them into a much smaller clearing with a water fountain. There was a bench opposite of the fountain where a young woman and Terra were. The Unversed stopped behind them and waited to strike at any moment._

"_Terra, behind you!" I warned. _

_He looked at me then turned to the Unversed in a flash, "Unversed!"_

_We fought off the Unversed together in a matter of seconds. It felt so right being by his side again working together. My heart started beating faster as Terra gave me a triumphant smile._

_Before either one of us could say anything, the young woman began to sob, "I can't believe…not anymore…"_

_Terra stood by me perplexed as how to comfort her then, I noticed her appearance. The pink dress she wore was torn in several places and her hair was a mess. Suddenly a mist appeared before the disheveled woman._

"_Strength of heart is important, but that's not all you need." a disembodied voice echoed._

"_There's nothing left to believe in…nothing." the young woman cried as the mist took the form of any elderly woman._

"_Nothing, my dear? Oh, now, you don't really mean that." the elderly woman consoled._

"_Oh, but I do. It's just no use." the young woman wept._

"_Nonsense! If you'd lost all your faith I couldn't be here, and here I am." the elderly woman exclaimed, "Oh, come now, dry those tears. You can't go to the ball looking like that."_

"_The ball? Oh, but I'm not-" the young woman tried to argue._

"_of course you are. But we'll have to hurry." the elderly woman urged as she took out a wand, "Now what were those magic words? Oh, yes! Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!"_

_As she waved her wand, sparks flew all around. Some danced around a pumpkin turning it into a charming carriage. Others encircled the young woman and transformed her torn dress into an elegant white ball gown. Her hair had also been tamed back into a bun while her feet were adorned with glass slippers._

"_Oh, it's beautiful dress." the young woman cooed._

_Terra stared in amazement at the magical transformation. Instantly, I grew envious of the young woman and self conscious of myself as her beauty outshined everything around her. I convinced myself I was overreacting because Terra loved me and that's all that mattered._

"_Why it's a dream come true!" the young woman exclaimed excitedly as she admired her reflection in the water fountain._

"_Yes, but like all dreams I'm afraid this can't last forever." the elderly woman warned, "You'll have only till midnight, and the spell will be broken and everything will be as it was before."_

"_Yes, I understand." the young woman replied as she climbed into the carriage. She waved to us as the carriage rode off to the palace._

"_Her heart was full of light. Why didn't I see it?" Terra mumbled somberly. He turned to the elderly woman with a look of disbelief and asked, "What did you do? I can hardly tell she's the same person."_

_She turned to us in shock as if just noticing us and asked, "Who are you?"_

"_Terra and this is Angel." Terra introduced putting his arm around my waist causing me to blush._

_The elderly woman smiled and asked, "Terra, in your heart, do you believe that dreams can come true?"_

"_I do." he replied gazing at me amorously and added, "But I also believe you have to make an effort to make them come true."_

"_Yes, of course. But sometimes just believing in dreams is easier said than done. Cinderella believes her dreams can come true. I wanted her to see that she is right." the elderly woman explained._

"_So that's what made her shine. Faith in her heart that anything is possible." Terra reflected on as he stared at the castle._

"_Where did she go?" I asked curiously._

"_To the royal ball at the palace. Go. And when you see her dancing you'll know that she believes, and that will help you to believe, too."_

_As we were walking to the palace, Terra pulled me into a warm embrace. When we pulled apart, he gave me a heartfelt smile and took my hand guiding me to the palace. The castle was even more beautiful up close, but we couldn't admire it for long because Cinderella was surrounded by Unversed._

"_Not here, too!" Terra yelled frustrated as he destroyed them all with ease._

"_Are you alright?" I asked Cinderella._

"_Yes, thank you." Cinderella replied and looked at Terra, "I've met you before…"_

"_I'll take care of them. You wait right here with Angel." Terra instructed with authority, earning an eye roll from me._

_Cinderella approached Terra's retreating figure and pleaded, "Please, may I go with you? I so want to go to the ball."_

"_Uh…All right." Terra agreed flustered which caused jealousy to boil up inside of me again, "But stay behind me and close to Angel or you'll get hurt."_

_Cinderella nodded and a bewildered Terra asked, "You're not worried?"_

"_Didn't you tell me it was important to stay strong?" Cinderella countered with a sweet smile._

"_Oh, um…I guess I did." Terra replied even more flustered than before._

"_Well, we better hurry if we want to get there before midnight." I urged through gritted teeth which I forced into a smile when Terra gave me a curious look._

_Terra and I summoned our Keyblades as we entered the palace. Terra stood in front taking down any Unversed that appeared. I stayed within close proximity of Cinderella and took out any that slipped passed Terra. After slaying many Unversed we arrived in the ballroom with Cinderella safe and sound. She thanked us and joined the prince on the dance floor. Watching them dance was even more magical than watching Cinderella's transformation._

"_Maybe just believing is enough." Terra mumbled thoughtfully._

"_I guess so." I whispered admirably, not wanting to take my eyes off the dancing duo. But, Terra's alarmed voice forced me too._

"_Unversed!" Terra alerted me before rushing to a man that was nearby, "Tell me. How do I get up there?"_

_Terra indicated the balcony on the opposite side of the room. That's when I noticed the Unversed myself and the height of the balcony we would have to be on. As we followed the man's directions and reached the balcony, a much larger Unversed appeared. Three large instruments revolved around it as the Unversed waved its hands back and forth like a maestro. Without warning, Terra scooped me up in his arms and jumped from the balcony just as the Unversed struck the spot we once were standing. I clutched on to Terra's shirt for dear life until we safely made it to the ground and he gently set me on my feet. By now the Unversed had disrupted the party and it was up to us to get rid of the party crasher. Once we found its weakness, we attacked it several times before it came crashing down._

"_Thank you. You saved us all." the man we met earlier said, "The guests were just starting to enjoy themselves."_

"_Well don't give up just yet." Terra reassured when he noticed Cinderella and the prince were chatting happily and holding hands, "Tell me something. Have you always had a problem around here with those monsters?"_

_The man explained how a boy in a mask showed up and the monsters seemed to obey him. But the boy hadn't been seen since. Before we could press for more information, the clock struck midnight causing Cinderella to leave in a hurry. In her haste, she left behind a glass slipper while descending the stairs. As we were observing the scene, we spotted Aqua at the bottom of the stairs and rushed down to meet her._

"_Ven ran away from home." she informed us with worry etched in her voice._

"_What?" Terra asked in disbelief as I let out a gasp._

"_He left to go find you, Terra. Do you have any idea why?" Aqua asked._

"_No…" Terra murmured but realization struck his face, "Actually, just before I left, he tried to tell me something. I should have listened to what he had to say."_

"_I'm sure he's fine, Terra." I tried reassuring him. _

"_Did you manage to locate Master Xehanort?" Aqua asked inquiringly._

"_No, but it seems he's looking for pure hearts filled with light." Terra said._

"_What does he need pure hearts for?" I inquired skeptically._

"_Yeah." Aqua agreed._

"_All I can tell you is that his search hasn't taken him here." Terra directed toward Aqua before walking away. I rushed to catch up and almost ran into him when he stopped, "Aqua. You still have the same dream?"_

_Aqua gave him a confused look and answered, "Well, yes."_

"_There's this girl here - her name is Cinderella. She made me realize how powerful it is just to believe. No matter how impossible things seem a powerful enough dream will always be enough to light the darkness. If you see her, give her my thanks." Terra spoke with his heart._

"_Will do." Aqua replied as her and I exchanged glowing smiles._

_We both knew that he would make it through this dark time now. I quickly waved goodbye to her and took Terra's hand in mine. He gave me an affectionate peck on the lips as we exited the palace. Even the glowing castle surrounded by sparkling stars paled in comparison our love._

Flashback end

Sora and Peter were now on the ground and suspiciously standing in front of a door. The same door that Hook entered when running away from the crocodile. Peter knocked on the door and stifled a laugh.

"Is that you, Smee?" Did you finish them off?" Hook asked with a shaky voice.

"Aye, Captain. They walked the plank, every last one of them." Peter said imitating Smee's voice perfectly.

Hook scrambled out of the room and frantically looked around. Peter snuck up behind him and poked him in the back with his dagger.

"P-Peter Pan - blast you!" Hook bellowed angrily pulling out his sword.

Peter blocked his attacks as we joined in the fight to help. It didn't take long to gain the upper hand and Peter sent him flying into the ocean. We watched in amusement as he swam as fast as he could with the crocodile in hot pursuit. I noticed Sora looking slightly glum so I nudged Donald and Goofy.

"Uh, Kairi couldn't wake up, so maybe she's really lost her-" Goofy was stopped by Donald and I shushing him.

"Sora." Peter called trying to snap him out of it.

Sora the perked up, " I still can't believe it. I really flew. Wait 'til I tell Kairi. I wonder if she'll believe me. Probably not."

"Well there's only one way to find out." I told him.

"You can bring her to Neverland sometime. Then she can try it herself." Peter offered.

"If you believe, you can do anything, right? I'll find Kairi. I know I will. There's so much I want to tell her - about flying, the pirates, and everything else that's happened." Sora rambled ecstatically.

His eyes danced with excitement just like when he was flying. It all came from the power of believing. Just like Sora believed he will find Kairi, I know I will find Terra.


End file.
